Official Sources

January 23, 2006
Steve,
During the Viet-nam War I was stationed in Northern Thailand.
I was a dog-handler and was posted nightly on a quarter mile post to intercept as a first line of detection and defense....the enemy.
Their were 17 dog teams surrounding the base at night. The enemy came in the form of 8 man Sapper Squads loaded down with weapons and explosives.
Their nightly game was to attempt to sneak through the concertina wire , penetrate our defenses, and attack the inner parts of the base which were planes and men.
We had an Intelligence Officer named Wilfong that would brief us nightly on what he had learned through "Official Sources".
Anyways as a rule, he became the most laughed at individual among us for one reason.....All the information that he had was gleaned through Official sources that was usually mis-leading, presumptuous and incorrect But we learned......We learned to listen to our senses.....and we learned to listen to the night. When it didn't feel "normal" or "usual".....Look Out !
Wilfond was right just often enough to be useful on occassion, but that was it!
We learned to "learn"....when we were going to be hit. The enemy was out there every night but usually just before he did something, he did some kind of subtle little thing that would "raise the hairs"
Those subtle little things seldom came in from Official Sources but were noticed by people that were, There and Paying Attention. Sometimes a dog-team simply noticed something out of place or maybe an out of place noise, or the big one....No noise. I recognize you to be like one of those Dog-handlers. Your out there paying attention and your watching your Dog. After a while we were briefing Wilfong and of course, after awhile...Wilfong went away. Your Wilfong are these critical "Know it all...Key-board Colonels" who tune you in because they know that you are out there and paying attention. You can't tell them anything but believe me.....They will go away. I want to simply Thank-You for the dedicated " Watchman On the Wall" that I can plainly see that you have faithfully been. It is said that in Mexico the Matador is sourrounding by a Thousand Critics looking down on him from a position of safety as he fights the Bull.
But their is only one man present who knows the truth.....and that is he who fights the Bull. In this thing of life their are the fighters and the spectators.
Is it not a struggle to ignore the chants and screams of the crowd as you fight on to the conclusion of your destiny? Keep paying attention and watching your dog. We are counting on you.Don